Method and system for providing computer-network related information about a calling party

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing computer-network related information about a calling party. First, the called party receives a telephone number of a calling party. The called party&#39;s customer premises equipment (CPE) or elements in a telephone network then use the telephone number to index a database, which contains combinations of telephone numbers and computer-network addresses. Once the calling party&#39;s computer-network address is retrieved, calling-party-customized information present at the computer-network location specified by the computer-network address can be sent to and displayed on the called party&#39;s CPE. Also, the calling party&#39;s telephone number can be sent to an application in the computer network, causing the calling-party-customized information to be automatically displayed on the called party&#39;s CPE.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/480,416, filed Jan. 11, 2000, now abandoned, which is a continuationof U.S. application Ser. No. 09/256,985, filed Feb. 24, 1999 (now U.S.Pat. No. 6,067,546), which is a continuation of U.S. applicaiton Ser.No. 08/801,880, filed Feb. 18, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,684), eachof which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to telecommunication servicesusing a public telephone system and more specifically to enhanced calleridentification services.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Local telephone service providers, through a central office, offer avariety of optional services to their customers. Some of these servicesprovide information about a person placing a call (a calling party) to aperson receiving the call (a called party).

In order to provide these services, the central office ordinarily hasaccess to a local database which has telephone-number fields correlatedwith data fields containing information such as the calling party'sname. Prior to terminating a call to the called party, the centraloffice searches the database for the telephone number of the callingparty. If the telephone number is found within the database, the centraloffice accesses the relevant information and delivers it to the calledparty.

Customer premises equipment (CPE) of many offices and homes integratestelephony and computers. This type of CPE connects to a networkenvironment that includes both a real or virtual telephone path and areal or virtual data path for access to a computer network, such as theInternet.

There is an emerging technology that integrates both a computer and atelephone into a single device. One example of this is a smart orintelligent phone 100 (see FIG. 1), a phone which contains a built-inmicroprocessor that is capable of running applications such as Webbrowsing software. Another example is Internet television withintegrated telephony.

There is a need to provide a caller identification service that takesadvantage of CPE that integrates telephony and computers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a CPE of a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a telephone network of a preferredembodiment, the network having a central office equipped with AdvancedIntelligent Network (AIN) software.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a telephone network of a preferredembodiment, the network having a central office that is not equippedwith AIN software.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an alternative telephone network to the oneshown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a method of a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a method of another preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Advantages

One advantage of the embodiments described below is that the calledparty receives a richer set of information about the calling party thanwith present caller identification services.

From the perspective of the calling party, these embodiments have theadvantage of providing customized information to the called party evenwhen the called party cannot or will not answer the phone.

These embodiments also make the general communication experience moreenjoyable.

Before turning to the preferred embodiments, it is important tounderstand the telephone networks with which some of these embodimentsoperate—networks with and networks without central offices equipped withAdvanced Intelligent Network (AIN) software.

Networks With Central Offices Equipped With AIN Software

FIG. 2 shows a modern telephone network 200 divided into two regions(Region A and Region B), which may be used with the preferredembodiments described below. The network 200 contains elements thattypically communicate network signaling protocols 260 and voice and datatraffic 270 between one another. The illustrated elements include thefollowing: customer premise equipment (CPE) 234; signal switching points(SSP) 228, 230, 248, 250; tandem switches 226, 246; signal transferpoints (STP) 224, 244; service control points (SCP) 222, 242; anddatabases 223, 243.

CPE 234 gains access to the network 200 by communicating voice and datatraffic 270 to the SSPs 228, 230, 248, 250. The CPE of the preferredembodiments has a real or virtual telephone line and a real or virtualdata line.

An Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) SSP is a central office equippedwith AIN software. AIN software can enable a SSP to suspend callprocessing and launch a query to a SCP. A SSP is similar to a localtelephone central office equipped with a voice switch such as a Lucent#5 ESS or a Nortel DMS-100, well known to those skilled in the art.

The SSPs 228, 230, 248, 250 communicate voice and data traffic to tandemswitches 226, 246. Tandem switches 226, 246 transfer voice and datatraffic 270 within or between regions of the network 200. Tandemswitches such as Lucent #4 ESS and Nortel DMS-200 are well known in theart. It should be understood, however, that SSPs in different areas mayalso transfer voice and data traffic directly between each other withoutthe use of a tandem switch.

Both the tandem switches 226, 246 and the SSPs 228, 230, 248, 250transfer network signaling protocols 260 to the STPs 224, 244. Thenetwork signaling protocols 260, such as those defined by SignalingSystem 7, which is well known in the art, control the network switchingof voice and data traffic.

STPs 224, 244 transfer network signaling protocols 260 within or betweenregions and to SCPs 222, 242. SCPs 222, 242 may also directly transfernetwork signaling protocols 260 between regions. The STPs 224, 244 andthe SCPs 222, 242 preferably include a microprocessor controlledcomputer system using computer peripherals controlled by applicationsoftware programmed to implement the appropriate communicationfunctions. STPs and SCPs are available from a number of telephone switchvenders.

SCPs 222, 242 handle the queries sent from a called party's 252 SSP 248by communicating with databases 223, 243. These databases 223, 243contain information identifying the types of services available to eachCPE 234 and related information such as, but is not limited to, FAXnumbers, e-mail addresses, cellular numbers, and computer-networkaddresses, such as Internet location identifiers (e.g., UniversalResource Locators (URLs)). The information is stored in the form of adatabase or lookup table in a memory storage device such as randomaccess memory or a magnetic or optical disk drive, known to thoseskilled in the art. Of course, a combination of different memory storagedevices or other types of devices may be used. The memory storage devicepreferably stores the service information in a data record such as anarray, lookup or pointer table, or other data structures known to thoseskilled in the art.

Networks Without Central Offices Equipped With AIN Software

FIG. 3 shows a network 300 in which the central offices 328, 330, 348,350 are equipped with standard switching equipment, which does notutilize AIN software. The network 300 contains elements that typicallycommunicate network signaling protocols 360 and voice and data traffic370 between one another. The elements in this network include thefollowing: customer premise equipment (CPE) 334; central offices 328,330, 348, 350; tandem switches 326, 346; signal transfer points (STP)324, 344; and databases 323, 343.

This network 300 is similar in structure to the AIN network 200,discussed above, with some notable differences. In this network 300, thecentral offices 328, 330, 348, 350 are not equipped with AIN software.Also, STPs 324, 344, not SCPs, communicate with the databases 323, 343.

FIG. 4 shows an alternative network 400 to network 300. This networkalso contains elements that typically communicate network signalingprotocols 460 and voice and data traffic 470 between one another. Theelements in this network include the following: customer premiseequipment (CPE) 434; central offices 428, 430, 448, 450; tandem switches426, 446; signal transfer points (STP) 424, 444; and databases 482, 484,486, 488. Unlike network 300, an intelligent peripheral, such as an AINservice node/intelligent peripheral, directly or indirectly attached tothe central offices 428, 430, 448, 450 communicates with the databases482, 484, 486, 488.

The above-described networks may be used in a method and system forproviding network related information to a called party. The method ofone set of preferred embodiments is illustrated in FIG. 5. The method inthese embodiments comprises the steps of sending 510 a telephone numberof a calling party to a called party, querying 530 a database toretrieve a computer-network address of a computer-network locationcontaining information customized by the calling party, and sending 550the computer-network address to a called party's CPE. This method canalso include the step of automatically displaying 570 informationcustomized by the calling party on the called party's CPE. Anotherpreferred embodiment (illustrated in FIG. 6) comprises the steps ofsending 610 a signal comprising a telephone number of a calling party toa called party and automatically displaying 630 information located on acomputer network, and customized by the calling party, on the calledparty's CPE.

First Preferred Embodiment

The first preferred embodiment uses the network 200 having centraloffices equipped with AIN software.

Sending the Calling Party's Telephone Number

When a calling party 232 lifts the telephone receiver and dials thenumber of a called party 252, that number is sent to the calling party's232 SSP 230. This SSP 230 sends, via STP 224, a network signalingprotocol 260 to STP 244, which routes the signal 260 to the SSP 248 ofthe called party 252. The network signaling protocol 260 provides thecalling party's 232 telephone number to the called party's 252 SSP 248,alerting it that the calling party 232 is attempting to terminate acall. Typically, the SSP 248 of the called party 252 has software withan associated computer processor and memory which recognizes the networksignaling protocol 260 identifying an incoming call attempt. The calledparty's CPE 252 may also receive the calling party's 232 telephonenumber. It is important to note that other methods of sending thecalling party's telephone number can be used.

Querying a Database to Retrieve the Calling Party's Network Address

After the called party's 252 SSP 248 recognizes the network signalingprotocol 260 as an incoming call attempt, the AIN software in the SSP248 formulates and transmits a query to the SCP 242 via the STP 244. Thequery typically contains the ten-digit telephone number of calling party232.

In response to the query, the SCP 242 determines what type of responseis required by indexing the database 243 to learn what services areavailable to the CPE 252. Based on this determination, the SCP 242indexes the database 243, as is well known in the art, to obtain andtransmit the relevant information associated with the calling party's232 telephone number. For example, the SCP 242 would learn that thecalled party 252 subscribes to the service described in theseembodiments when it first indexes the database 243. The SCP would thenobtain the calling party's 232 computer-network address (e.g., its URL)and transmit it to the SSP 248 for delivery to the called party's CPE252.

Alternatively, the CPE can formulate and transmit a query to the SCP 242via the STP 244. It is important to note that other methods of queryinga database can be used and that the database can be local to the SCP,accessible over a connecting data network, or accessible remotely over aSS7 network.

Second Preferred Embodiment

The second preferred embodiment of this invention uses a network 300with central offices that are not equipped with AIN Software.

Sending the Calling Party's Telephone Number

When the calling party 332 lifts the telephone receiver and dials thenumber of the called party 352, that number is sent to the correspondingcentral office, here central office 330. This central office 330 sends anetwork signaling protocol 360 to the STP 324, which routes it to thecentral office 348 of the called party 352 via STP 344. Typically, thecentral offices 328, 330, 348, 350 have software with an associatedcomputer processor and memory which recognizes the network signalingprotocol identifying an incoming call attempt. The network signalingprotocol 360 provides the calling party's 332 telephone number to thecalled party's 352 central office 348 to alert it that the calling party332 is attempting to terminate a call. The called party's CPE 352 mayalso receive the calling party's 332 telephone number. It is importantto note that other methods of sending the calling party's telephonenumber can be used.

Querying a Database to Retrieve the Calling Party's Network Address

When the called party's 352 central office 348 attempts to terminate thecall, the central office 348 determines, based on its switchingconfiguration, which services the called party 352 subscribes to. Thisis unlike the network 200 having its central offices equipped with AINsoftware, in which the SCP determines the subscribed services. Based onthis determination, the central office 348 transmits a query to the STP344. In comparison to an AIN query, this query instructs the STP 344 toperform a specific task, here to retrieve the computer-network address(e.g., the URL) from the database 343. Typically, the query contains theten-digit telephone number of calling party 332. The STP 344 indexes thecalling party's 332 number into the database 343, as is well known inthe art, and retrieves the associated computer-network address (e.g.,the URL). Alternatively, the called party's CPE 352 can formulate andtransmit a query to the STP 344.

Databases 482, 484, 486, 488 located off of the central offices 428,430, 448, 450, instead of databases 323, 343 located off of the STPs324, 344, can also be used (See FIG. 4). An application running in thecalled party's CPE 452 can signal an application running off a servingswitch, such as an AIN service node/intelligent peripheral (SN/IP), toretrieve the computer-network address (e.g., the URL) from the database482, 484, 486, 488. In this alternative, the intelligent peripheral,such as the AIN SN/IP, directly or indirectly attached to the centraloffices 428, 430, 448, 450, would transmit a query to the databases 482,484, 486, 488.

It is important to note that other methods of querying a database can beused and that the database can be local, accessible over a connectingdata network, or accessible remotely.

Third Preferred Embodiment

The third preferred embodiment of this invention follows the generalmethod as described in the first two preferred embodiments but is notdependent upon a specific network 200, 300, 400.

Sending a Signal to the Called Party

Depending on the network 200, 300, 400 used, a SSP or a central officereceives the calling party's number, as described in the first twoembodiments above. When the SSP or the central office receives thenumber, it sends the number to the CPE. Other methods of sending thetelephone number can be used.

Querying a Database to Retrieve the Calling Party's Network Address

In this embodiment, instead of using databases located within the phonenetwork 200, 300, 400, a directory database, which containscomputer-network addresses (e.g., URLs) referenced to phone numbers,accessible over the data line on a computer network (e.g., located onthe Internet) is used. After receiving the phone number, the CPE runs anapplication that indexes the directory database to retrieve thecomputer-network address associated with the calling party's number.

Alternatively, the CPE application may have its own database of phonenumber/computer-network address conversions. This database can bemanually updated, or it can be automatically updated by a remoteapplication when, for example, the user places or receives a call.

In any of the above embodiments, an additional step may be performed ofautomatically displaying information customized by the calling party ona called party's CPE. Once the called party's CPE receives thecomputer-network address (e.g., the URL), an application in the CPE canretrieve and display the calling-party-customized information located atthe computer-network location specified by the computer-network address(e.g., the calling party's Web page), as is well known in the art.

Fourth Preferred Embodiment

In another embodiment, an application located in a computer networksends the calling-party-customized information directly to the CPE. Thispreferred embodiment (illustrated in FIG. 6) comprises the steps ofsending 610 a signal comprising a telephone number of a calling party toa called party and automatically displaying 630 information located on acomputer network on the called party's CPE.

Sending a Signal to the Called Party

Depending on the network 200, 300, 400 used, a SSP or a central officereceives the calling party's number, as described in the first twoembodiments above. When the SSP or the central office receives thenumber, it sends the number to the CPE. Other methods of sending thetelephone number can be used.

Automatically Displaying Information Located on a Computer Network

When the CPE receives the calling party's telephone number, it sends thenumber to an application running in a computer network (e.g., theInternet). Instead of merely sending back the computer-network addressof a location on the computer network containing the customizedinformation, the application returns the customized information itself.For example, instead of sending only the URL of the calling party, thecalling party's Web page is sent directly to the called party's CPE, asis well known in the art.

Advantages

Integrating a computer network with a telephone service will addconsiderable value to CPE, whether in a household or a businessenvironment. The embodiments described above provide an attractive wayof linking businesses and customers and provide associated advantages toboth the calling party and the called party.

When a business calls someone now, the customer may not pick up the callunless it is expected. Using any of the embodiments described above, thebusiness can customize its information at its computer-network location(e.g., its Web page) to communicate an incentive to the customer to pickup the phone (e.g., “If you pick up this call in the next 10 seconds,you can win a big prize!”). This effectively allows businesses to sendreal-time messages to the people they are trying to reach.

Even if the customer does not or cannot answer the call, the businessstill communicates a message to its potential customer. This message caninclude an advertisement or a coupon. With its message delivered, thebusiness would not need to phone back later even though no one answeredthe phone. From the customer's perspective, he or she can use thedelivered page to shop or to access information about the businesswithout having to return the call and directly deal with a sales person.In addition to communicating a message, the customized information(e.g., the Web page) can offer services to customers whose line is busyor who refuse to answer the call waiting signal (e.g., “I see you are onthe phone, need a calculator? Here's one, along with our ad.”).

After the call is answered, the customer can interact with thebusiness's Web page, for example, in parallel with speaking. In thisway, businesses can induce their customers into exploring more of theWeb site, say, for advertising and shopping during the course of theconversation.

Alternatives

It is important to note that other telephone networks can be used. Themethods described for sending the calling party's telephone number arejust examples, and other methods can be used.

The databases shown in these embodiments can be Directory Assistancedatabases. The databases may be local to the phone network, accessibleover a connecting data network, or accessible remotely, for example,over a SS7 network.

The number of elements and of regions in the above-described networks200, 300, 400 were chosen for illustration purposes. In any givenapplication, more or fewer elements or regions may be used. Also, in theembodiments described above, the calling party was chosen to be CPE 232,332, 432, and the called party was chosen to be CPE 252, 352, 452. Itshould be noted that any CPE in either region can be the calling partyor the called party.

Other means can be used to provide the called party with the callingparty's telephone number.

The CPE can use any software or hardware application to perform thefunctions described in the embodiments. For example, Web browsingsoftware, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer,may be used to retrieve the calling party's Web page. Alternatively, theCPE can use software designed to receive and display graphicalinformation sent to it by an application running on a computer network,such as the Internet.

CPE includes, but is not limited to, (1) “thin clients” with a displayand an application processor, such as smart telephones, (2) personalcomputers with a telephone and data network interface, (3) personal dataassistants (PDAs), (4) cellular phones with data displays, and (5)Internet TV integrated with telephony. When a CPE comprises multipledevices (such as a computer and a telephone), an application in thenetwork 200, 300, 400 can send the caller information to each device.

This invention does not depend on the use of any one particular CPE orCPE application. The CPE and CPE applications mentioned in the preferredembodiments are merely examples.

Asymmetric digital subscriber loop (ADSL) and integrated servicesdigital network (ISDN) pipes work particularly well because of theirspeed, but other pipes can be used. Also, as mentioned earlier, anycomputer-network address can be used (a URL or another Internet locationidentifier is just an example). In addition, anycalling-party-customized information at a computer-network locationspecified by the calling party's computer-network address can beretrieved, even if not in the form of a Web page.

As mentioned above, instead of a central office or SSP querying adatabase, an application running in the CPE can transmit the query toretrieve the computer-network address. In this alternative, the callingparty's phone number would be sent to the CPE and would be used to queryan STP, SCP, or intelligent peripheral, for example, to retrieve thecalling party's computer-network address from a database. In anotheralternative, a CPE can query a database linked into the phone network.

One way in which indexing can be performed in the above preferredembodiments is by using the first six digits of the calling party'stelephone number (the NPANXX combination). As noted above, other methodsof indexing may be used.

The present embodiments may be implemented with software and logic asknown to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the presentembodiments may be written in a high level programming language such asPascal, C, or C++. The present embodiments may be written and compiledto run on a standard UNIX operating system microcomputer implementedwithin the SCPs, the central offices, or the CPE.

It is intended that the foregoing detailed description be understood asan illustration of selected forms that the invention can take and not asa definition of the invention. It is only the following claims,including all equivalents, which are intended to define the scope ofthis invention.

1. A method for automatically displaying, on a called party's customer premises equipment, a World Wide Web page customized by a calling party, the method comprising: (a) initiating a call from a calling party to a called party, the called party having customer premises equipment; (b) in response to the initiation of the call from the calling party to the called party and prior to termination of the call to the called party, identifying a World Wide Web page designated by the calling party; (c) sending the World Wide Web page designated by the calling party to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (d) displaying the World Wide Web page on the called party's customer premises equipment.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises automatically querying a database with a telephone number of the calling party for the Universal Resource Locator of the World Wide Web page; and wherein (c) comprises: (c1) sending the Universal Resource Locator to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (c2) retrieving the World Wide Web page with the called party's customer premises equipment.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises querying a database in a telephone network with a telephone number of the calling party for a Universal Resource Locator of the World Wide Web page; and wherein (c) comprises: (c1) transmitting the Universal Resource Locator to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (c2) retrieving the World Wide Web page with the called party's customer premises equipment.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises querying a database in a computer network with a telephone number of the calling party for a Universal Resource Locator of the World Wide Web page; and wherein (c) comprises: (c1) transmitting the Universal Resource Locator to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (c2) retrieving the World Wide Web page with the called party's customer premises equipment.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the call from the calling party is initiated to the called party using a telecommunication network with a central office equipped with Advanced Intelligent Network software.
 6. A method for automatically displaying calling-party-customized graphical information on a called party's customer premises equipment, the method comprising: (a) initiating a call from a calling party to a called party, the called party having customer premises equipment; (b) in response to the initiation of the call from the calling party to the called party and prior to termination of the call to the called party, identifying calling-party-customized graphical information; (c) sending the calling-party-customized graphical information to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (d) displaying the calling-party-customized graphical information on the called party's customer premises equipment; wherein the calling-party-customized graphical information comprises a World Wide Web page.
 7. A method for automatically sending a Universal Resource Locator designated by a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: (a) initiating a call from a calling party to a called party, the called party having customer premises equipment; (b) in response to the initiation of the call from the calling party to the called party and prior to termination of the call to the called party, identifying a Universal Resource Locator designated by the calling party; (c) sending the Universal Resource Locator designated by the calling party to the called party's customer premises equipment; (d) retrieving a World Wide Page associated with the Universal Resource Locator; and (e) displaying the World Wide Web page on the called party's customer premises equipment.
 8. A method for automatically sending a Universal Resource Locator designated by a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: (a) initiating a call from a calling party to a called party, the called party having customer premises equipment; and (b) in response to the initiation of the call from the calling party to the called party and prior to termination of the call to the called party, identifying a Universal Resource Locator designated by the calling party; and (c) sending the Universal Resource Locator designated by the calling party to the called party's customer premises equipment; wherein the call from the calling party is initiated to the called party using a telecommunication network with a central office equipped with Advanced Intelligent Network software.
 9. A method for automatically displaying calling-party-customized graphical information on a called party's customer premises equipment, the method comprising: (a) initiating a call from a calling party to a called party, the called party having customer premises equipment; (b) in response to the initiation of the call from the calling party to the called party and prior to termination of the call to the called party, identifying calling-party-customized graphical information; (c) sending the calling-party-customized graphical information to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (d) displaying the calling-party-customized graphical information on the called party's customer premises equipment.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein (b) comprises automatically querying a database with a telephone number of the calling party for a computer-network address of a computer-network location storing the calling-party-customized graphical information; and wherein (c) comprises: (c1) sending the computer-network address to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (c2) retrieving the calling-party-customized graphical information with the called party's customer premises equipment.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein (b) comprises querying a database in a telephone network with a telephone number of the calling party for a computer-network address of a computer-network location storing the calling-party-customized graphical information; and wherein (c) comprises: (c1) transmitting the computer-network address to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (c2) retrieving the calling-party-customized graphical information with the called party's customer premises equipment.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein (b) comprises querying a database in a computer network with a telephone number of the calling party for a computer-network address of a computer-network location storing the calling-party-customized graphical information; and wherein (c) comprises: (c1) transmitting the computer-network address to the called party's customer premises equipment; and (c2) retrieving the calling-party-customized graphical information with the called party's customer premises equipment.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the call from the calling party is initiated to the called party using a telecommunication network with a central office equipped with Advanced Intelligent Network software.
 14. A method for automatically sending a Universal Resource Locator designated by a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: (a) initiating a call from a calling party to a called party, the called party having customer premises equipment; (b) in response to the initiation of the call from the calling party to the called party and prior to termination of the call to the called party, identifying a Universal Resource Locator designated by the calling party; and (c) sending the Universal Resource Locator designated by the calling party to the called party's customer premises equipment.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein (b) comprises automatically querying a database in a telephone network with a telephone number of the calling party for the Universal Resource Locator.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein (b) comprises automatically querying a database in a computer network with a calling party's telephone number for the Universal Resource Locator. 